# What if the Democrats cut a deal with Boehner on the Speakership? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 30, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023 "2013-09-30T18:36:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/41 "2013-10-02T20:41:47Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Is it just pride? “Just” pride? Why not ask Nancy Pelosi how she feels being a former Speaker and whether she wants the position back? How would you feel going to work every single day knowing that some idiot has taken over your job and you have to bow and scrape because you’re now a nothing and everybody in the country has a microphone and podium open for your successor? Would that really feel better than being the one who gets to stand up to the President on national television? Would anyone capable of living with that be capable of rising to the Speakership in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/42 "2013-10-02T20:54:46Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > This crisis, however, is a **House** problem; filibusters do not apply. The point was about conservative Republican intransigence being generations-old. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/43 "2013-10-03T22:51:17Z")
The Republican party was not notably conservative in Woodrow Wilson’s day. In the entire former Confederacy all the (white) registered Republicans could fit into a phone booth. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/44 "2013-10-03T23:00:15Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > How would you feel going to work every single day knowing that some idiot has taken over your job and you have to bow and scrape because you’re now a nothing and everybody in the country has a microphone and podium open for your successor? Would that really feel better than being the one who gets to stand up to the President on national television? Would anyone capable of living with that be capable of rising to the Speakership in the first place? How is that not exactly what is already happening? if Boehner is just being forced by the tea partiers to take this suicidal course then he might as well not be speaker because he is not in charge. This actually makes him look worse than just quitting. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/45 "2013-10-03T23:00:48Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > … all the (white) registered Republicans could fit into a phone booth. If there had been such a thing, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/46 "2013-10-04T01:05:49Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > The Republican party was not notably conservative in Woodrow Wilson’s day. In the entire former Confederacy all the (white) registered Republicans could fit into a phone booth. This is true only sorta, kinda, maybe. The Republicans had a progressive wing but were mostly conservative, and totally controlled by business interests. And while some states only voted 5-10% Republican, some had surprising high totals like Virginia and North Carolina. Check out [this chart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1916#Results_by_state) from the 1916 election. > [@DigitalC](#): > > How is that not exactly what is already happening? if Boehner is just being forced by the tea partiers to take this suicidal course then he might as well not be speaker because he is not in charge. This actually makes him look worse than just quitting. As soon as Boehner stops being on television 30 times a day, I’ll agree with you. But not until. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/47 "2013-10-04T15:21:31Z")
FYI: Ezra Klein has a pretty good interview with [Richard Costa](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/01/why-boehner-doesnt-just-ditch-the-right/), National Review’s Washington editor and a trusted insider among House Republicans. He lays out what he observes has happened to Boehner since the GOP loss on the fiscal cliff in January crippled his speakership. IMO the last paragraph nails it: > [@](#): > > The thing that makes Boehner interesting is he’s very aware of his limited hand. Boehner doesn’t live in an imaginary world where he thinks he’s Tip O’Neill and he can bring people into his office and corral them into a certain vote. So he treads carefully, maybe too carefully. But he knows a clean CR has never been an option for him. > \<…\> > I think John Boehner is frustrated by leading the Republicans in the House but I think he very much loves being speaker. To understand him you have to understand that. He gets to the Capitol early. He relishes the job and the position but he doesn’t relish being at odds so often with his members. He loves being a major American political figure, but he’s not a Newt Gingrich-like figure trying to lead the party in a certain direction. He’s just trying to survive and enjoy it while it lasts. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/48 "2013-10-04T15:47:26Z")
Boehner should ball up and move his party “in a certain direction”, i.e. away from the cliff. Just goin’ along and enjoying the ride is the weak leadership that got the GOP to this point. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/49 "2013-10-04T16:35:46Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > How about we just drop the name Tea Party and call them what they are - anarchists. Sir, I have met many fine anarchists. Why must you malign their good name by linking them with the Tea Party? I challenge you to a bout of fisticuffs at dawn! ---
**Author:** ![Conservian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Conservian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conservian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/50 "2013-10-05T11:37:15Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Boehner should ball up and move his party “in a certain direction”, i.e. away from the cliff. Just goin’ along and enjoying the ride is the weak leadership that got the GOP to this point. Had Boehner possessed any kind of real conservative conviction, he’d of ‘balled up’ and rolled his party away from this charade the first time around. Perhaps Boehner senses that this time, capitulation on his part in any form, would mean his job, and rightly so. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/51 "2013-10-05T11:42:16Z")
> [@Conservian](#): > > Had Boehner possessed any kind of real conservative conviction, he’d of ‘balled up’ and rolled his party away from this charade the first time around. > Perhaps Boehner senses that this time, capitulation on his part in any form, would mean his job, and rightly so. Boehner should put the country ahead of worries about his job- capitulation is the right and wise thing to do for the country. That’s why this is “Boehner’s shutdown”- he’s the only one person who can end it… just bring a clean bill to the House floor- a majority supports it. ---
**Author:** ![Conservian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Conservian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conservian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/52 "2013-10-05T13:15:28Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Boehner should put the country ahead of worries about his job- capitulation is the right and wise thing to do for the country. That’s why this is “Boehner’s shutdown”- he’s the only one person who can end it… just bring a clean bill to the House floor- a majority supports it. I don’t disagree with ‘country first’ at all. Allowing other essential government departments to function, while letting ACA wither and dry up is for the better of the country, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/53 "2013-10-05T13:22:41Z")
> [@Conservian](#): > > I don’t disagree with ‘country first’ at all. > Allowing other essential government departments to function, while letting ACA wither and dry up is for the better of the country, IMO. Be that as it may, we have a means of choosing between conflicting alternatives. Majority rule. Most people, _even the people who would prefer to eliminate the ACA_, recognize that these tactics are in tension with the legitimacy of our democratic institutions. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/54 "2013-10-05T13:24:50Z")
> [@Conservian](#): > > I don’t disagree with ‘country first’ at all. > Allowing other essential government departments to function, while letting ACA wither and dry up is for the better of the country, IMO. Except that that won’t happen. The Democrats literally _can’t_ give in on this. If the Democrats cave, divided government never functions again. If they cave, the only way to govern in the future is to control both houses of Congress plus the Presidency- having one house plus the White House isn’t enough. So Boehner has to choose between his Speakership and the functioning of the government. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/55 "2013-10-05T16:23:27Z")
Here is an interesting article interviewing Robert Costa of the National Review about the House Republicans. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/01/why-boehner-doesnt-just-ditch-the-right/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/01/why-boehner-doesnt-just-ditch-the-right/) Key quote: “I think John Boehner is frustrated by leading the Republicans in the House but I think he very much loves being speaker. To understand him you have to understand that. He gets to the Capitol early. He relishes the job and the position but he doesn’t relish being at odds so often with his members. He loves being a major American political figure, but he’s not a Newt Gingrich-like figure trying to lead the party in a certain direction. He’s just trying to survive and enjoy it while it lasts.” ---
**Author:** ![Conservian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Conservian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conservian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/56 "2013-10-06T13:38:43Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Except that that won’t happen. The Democrats literally _can’t_ give in on this. If the Democrats cave, divided government never functions again. If they cave, the only way to govern in the future is to control both houses of Congress plus the Presidency- having one house plus the White House isn’t enough. So Boehner has to choose between his Speakership and the functioning of the government. And that’s called putting politics before the need(s) and want(s) of “the people” - that constituency who elected you to R-E-P-R-E-S-E-N-T them. That’s what I detest about politicos in general; succumbing to those positions of power where self-serving interest become the top priority. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/57 "2013-10-06T13:51:56Z")
> [@Conservian](#): > > And that’s called putting politics before the need(s) and want(s) of “the people” - that constituency who elected you to R-E-P-R-E-S-E-N-T them. > That’s what I detest about politicos in general; succumbing to those positions of power where self-serving interest become the top priority. Except that in this case, the Democrats believe that ACA _is_ what the people need and (in general) want\*. - When ACA is broken down into pieces, each piece gets overwhelming support. ---
**Author:** ![Conservian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Conservian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conservian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/58 "2013-10-06T17:35:35Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Except that in this case, the Democrats believe that ACA _is_ what the people need and (in general) want\*. > > - When ACA is broken down into pieces, each piece gets overwhelming support. That response is typical of how ACA was first presented by Democrats in public, then maneuvered it into law in private, where bribery and corruption thrived. ACA - The proverbial threshold by which America officially crosses over in Socialism. ---
**Author:** ![Conservian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Conservian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conservian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/59 "2013-10-06T17:51:46Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > Be that as it may, we have a means of choosing between conflicting alternatives. Majority rule. Most people, _even the people who would prefer to eliminate the ACA_, recognize that these tactics are in tension with the legitimacy of our democratic institutions. The architects of our republican system of government purposely designed it to create lots of “tension” so as to preserve those pillars which support this democratic republic! Aside: there are “tactics” borne of political brinkmanship, and those borne out of corruption. Often, the former is necessary to quell the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Conservian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Conservian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Conservian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023/60 "2013-10-06T18:03:12Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > Here is an interesting article interviewing Robert Costa of the National Review about the House Republicans. > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/01/why-boehner-doesnt-just-ditch-the-right/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/01/why-boehner-doesnt-just-ditch-the-right/) > > Key quote: > > “I think John Boehner is frustrated by leading the Republicans in the House but I think he very much loves being speaker. To understand him you have to understand that. He gets to the Capitol early. He relishes the job and the position but he doesn’t relish being at odds so often with his members. He loves being a major American political figure, but he’s not a Newt Gingrich-like figure trying to lead the party in a certain direction. He’s just trying to survive and enjoy it while it lasts.” John Boehner has a quality about him" “His hair was perfect.” - Warren Zevon [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-democrats-cut-a-deal-with-boehner-on-the-speakership/670023.md?page=4)